Count Your Wishes
by MikiMouze16
Summary: "Life is made up of three wishes. Unfortunately I have used two of them. And I know I'm going to die soon." 'How?" "Because I'm going to end up using my last wish on one of you." She never wished for life she was given. But she knew how wishes worked. They were sneaky and pulled your hope up only to drop it to the floor. Now a new evil threatens her last wish.
1. Chapter 1

I wonder what it's like on the other side. Is it cold? Is it hot? Does it snow? Does it rain? Are there butterflies that ride the wind and birds that sing magically melodies when you become sad? Do you even become sad over there?

What I really want to know is who came up with the idea of three wishes. Why three? Would five be too much to ask for? Would that just make our lifes too easy? Would it make them too long? Or do they keep at three because they are afraid that they'll go crazy? The people I mean, the ones that are running around outside trying to catch the bus at last minute or under the Starbucks awning, trying to avoid the rain that'll wrinkle the perfectly pressed clothing that layers itself on top of the skin of a beige woman. Maybe three wishes are too much already, I watch the news, the attacks, the aliens.

I wonder what Daniel would say? Would he comment how people are just losing it? Or would he pat my shoulder and look me in the eyes and whisper,

"That's why you have to be careful with your wishes. They can drive you insane."

Maybe I'm going insane. Daniel told me that when we come to our last wish we start to lose ourself because we are so close to death and subconsciously we know it. We go insane because though we know are last wish is waiting to be ticked off the sheet and our bodies magic raises to the clouds. That's what he called life, the bodies magic supply.

"When you use your last wish, make sure it's for someone else, because if it's for you, you won't live to enjoy it. It would be stupid to waste a wish." I added that to the list of rules on wishes.

_#1 You have to be serious or it won't work._

_#2 when you wish you have to use every fiber of your being to make it come true._

_#3 Avoid loopholes_

Those were the three rules Daniel gave to me off the bat. He was sitting in the hospital bed trying to find a way to move his arm where it wouldn't tug on the wires and tubes. He settled it on top of his chest in defeat after a few gasps and uncomfortable tugs. He had a bandage around the top of his head, which was now bald. His eyes sunk into his head but they weren't as bad as the week before. Though barely, his cheeks had a rosy tint to eyes looked a little less lifeless and more childish. As if he hadn't been in the hospital for the past three months.

"Why did you waste a wish on me?" I had stopped looking at my legs which I was pumping back in forth at such a force that I started to bounce on the plastic blue chair I was placed on. My mother had gone home with our little sister Avery minutes before and I believe the nurse said my father had fallen asleep in his breakfast. It wouldn't be the first time. He had come up to the room so often with food smeared on his face Daniel claimed he did it on purpose. He didn't. I had watched my father fight to keep his eyelids open while cutting his fries. I asked him why he was cutting his fries? He looked at me confused and turned back to his plate. Minutes later his right cheek was soaking in ketchup.

"Because, I wanted to."

"You know you have only two more now."

"It's okay, I don't plan on using them anytime soon."

I felt his eyes burning into my skin and turned into his gaze. He was silent for a moment then opened his mouth but closed it again. He seemed to be searching for the right words to say before he finally found courage to blurt them out. "Don't waste anymore wishes on me."

I nodded my head and sat there in silence. These are some of the memories I remember the most. The silent conversations. The beeping of medical equipment around us. The ticking of a clock. A minute, an hour, a day. It all started to mend together. I looked back up to him in what felt like eternity. His eyes were closed and his breathing was even. I started to swing my legs again but not at the force I had before. I stopped again. I decided it would be best to say even if he couldn't hear me.

"I don't think it was a waste."


	2. Chapter 2

He died a week after my birthday. That's how I learned about the loophole. I wished with everything in my body for the tumor to go away. That he would behome for my birthday. It came true, but then my wish ended.

They didn't know I was standing in the door was crying. I didn't make a sound at the time. I listened to my mother try to muffle her cries. I watched the nurses go around and shut of the machines. They pulled the tube out of his throat and wires off of his body. When he was all unhooked, they rolled a thin mint green sheet over his body. I looked at his body, cloaked in the sheet, unmoving.

if I could go back and remake that wish, I would erase the loophole. But I can't. I wished that his tumor would be removed and would come home for my birthday. I never wished that a day later that he would have a seizure that left him in a coma. I didn't wish it would become a waiting game. But i did keep a promise. I didn't use another wish on my brother. So I watched him die. I watched my mother fall apart. I sat by his grave every Saturday until we moved when I was nine.

That trip was when I used my second wish. Three years after I used my first wish. My father's friend was driving the UHaul for us. My mother had passed out in the passengers seat and my father had rested his hand on her knee. He would glance at her often, a smile always spread across his face. It wasn't just with his lips though, they eyes that became heavy after Daniel's death would smile to. They looked exactly like Daniels. A light green with a brown ring around the pupil. But his eyes had bags and lines under them.

My father always looked older than he should have. Instead of 36 he looked about 45. He was from a sadder time, I had told myself. A time where his mother had died in a car accident and his father was never home. He took care of his two younger brothers and younger sister. He dropped out of high school at the age of sixteen when Grandpa had a heart attack. After about two years he returned and got his diploma. He moved on to go to Kansas CIty State University for a major in Biology. He was taking a train home when he met my mother in his second year of school. She was attending Kansas City art institute. She was majoring in Art History, but was taking several classes at the University. She had approached my father asking if he went to the school. They ended up talking all night. And when my fathers stop came he asked if she was getting off.

"No, I'm not this stop," He looked down at her. Instead of grabbing his luggage and leaving, He sat next to her and leaned back against the seat. "So Marie," He smiled at the way her name felt on his lips, "Where are we going?"

"To our future, David." He meet her parents that week. They were thrilled that she was finally interested in someone who had a promising career ahead of him.

My father's career had started with teaching Microbiology at MIT. He was then requested by a secret foundation to work for them. With a major wage increase and better benefits my father couldn't refuse even if he tried. I think it was because he couldn't stay in the house anymore. Too many memories that were painted on the walls. He wanted a fresh start. It would be good for my mother who was again pregnant.

I always wondered how I would use my second wish. Would it be for me? Would it for my future? Would it be for my relationship? For my child? For my ticket to be called for the lottery? I would sit in the back of the car tracing figure eights onto the frosted windows. My little sister, Avery, would try to talk to me but after I didn't respond the fist three times she gave up, probably thinking I was asleep. She started to sing a song mom used to sing at bedtime. It started out as a hum but she then hit the chorus.

"_Téir abhaile riú, téir abhaile riú_

_Téir abhaile riú Mhearai_

_Téir abhail gus fan sa bhaile_

_Mar tá do mhargadh déanta" _

I listen to her stumble on the second to last line and start to hum again. I picked up where she left off.

"_Come now and follow me down_

_Down to the lights of Galway where_

_There's fine sailors walking the town_

_And waiting to meet the ladies there," _

She smiled at me as I sang along with her. My mother had woken up and was looking at us over her shoulder. It was then when we all started to sing.

"_Watch now he'll soon be along_

_He's finer than any sailor so_

_Come on now pick up your spoons_

_He's waiting to hear you play them WHOOO!"_

It was a perfect moment. I think we all have perfect moments before something horrible happens. Even if its a feeling or just something small. Nothing bad can go wrong unless you get your hopes up with perfection. I saw the lights coming through the rain clouded windshield. I noticed a moment too late the the lights weren't on the right side of the road. I didn't have time to think before metal surrounded me. I heard scraping, screaming, crying and prayers. I didn't know if i was upside down or not. My left arm was twisted behind me and my sisters foot was in my face. I saw my mother's eyes through a gap in the seat and the roof that was forced to divide us.

"Are you okay?" It was my father. I couldn't see him but I heard he voice through my sisters cries. My mother said she was okay but her leg was stuck. Avery stuck to crying and I just groaned in response. I was too busy pulling every piece of life in m body into a single bal. I tried to let it surround me. I pushed it out praying that someone would catch my wish and open it.

It seem to take forever until I saw the red and blue lights flashing off the metal. The colors were faded and blurred together. Like the voices that were yelling and trying to soothe our nerves. They got Avery out first. Her leg was bent 90 degrees in the wrong direction. She was missing several teeth and her right eye was swollen shut. Momma was next. They had to slowly pry her leg free. because of the damage and how severe it was they didn't think they could save it. That's what the police man closest to my window said. Are at least what I thought he said. I was uncomfortable, not hurt, just cramped in the dome of metal. They ended saving me for last. Daddy was rescued but wasn't responding. I was the only one who wasn't harmed. They had to pry open the metal around me. Not a scratch on my summer sun kissed skin.

That was the first time I got to ride in a helicopter. I was sitting at the end of the gurney that my sister was whimpering on. They had checked me and agreed that I was perfectly safe. A larger blady came up to me when we arrived. She had a floral scrub top and light blue bottoms with perfectly clean white shoes.

"Come with me, Honey," So I grabbed her hand and walked the opposite direction of my family. It appeared that Daniel had caught the wish.

"What's your name, Sweetie?"

"Carly," she pointed to the number 3 on the elevator panel and waited for me to push it. I smacked it with the palm of my hand accidentally hit the five with my thumb. She didn't seem to mind.

It was two days later when they came to Lisa, who was sitting in her usual spot on the computer. "How do you keep your shoes so white?" I asked. I tried to avoid looking up. I hate hospitals ever since Daniel had died.

"Are you Carly Grieff?"

"Yes," I pulled my eyes up to a man. He had brown eyes and blonde hair His hair was cut short and he was fitted in a dark gray suit.

"We have some unfortunate news."


	3. Chapter 3

That's how I learned that there is always a catch. That you had to be specific. That your wishes, your words, dreams, thoughts, and promises can be swirled and twisted into the most demonic and depressing way possible. I sat at my mother's grave. It was left of my brother's Daniel's and right of my fathers. I sat in between my mothers and fathers grave digging my fingers into the dirt. I pulled the dirt to my knees and dropped it. It tumbled, slowly, gliding down my jeans and onto my sneakers. A few pieces tumbled back down to the earth.

"Carly Grieff?" A man called from behind me. I turned around and saw a bald man sitting in a wheelchair and a woman with white hair. The woman's skin was smooth with a small light scar on her right temple. I wouldn't have noticed if i wasn't looking for it. But, I always look for scars. To know I'm not the only one damaged. She had very pale eyes, that matched the cloudy sky, unlike her eyes, the clouds were darkening for the storm that was suppose to appear any minute now.

"That's me," I broke the stretching silence. The first rain landed on my check and made me flinch. It was a sprinkle, it was those big fat ones that with wind and army could cause damage that lasts a lifetime.

"I'm Charles Xavier, also known as Professor X." Another rain smacked on the top of my head where my caramel colored waves parted. "This is Storm, she is a teacher at the school I teach." Rain was starting to come at a thicker pace. My light blue hoodie had more and more darker spots started to show up. "We want you to come to the Xavier School for the Gifted." I nodded in agreement, not like I had any other place to go. I was homeless, family-less and scared.

I was told that I was a Technopath. I could control and manipulate any type of Tech with a single touch. After three years of advance training, I could do it with my mind. It was hard at first. I was the only one with the ability to manipulate such material. I could link my mind with the material. I seemed to know everything. I knew answers, how to fight, every person, just by a mutation in my body. I wasn't just able to control Tech. I was becoming it. My skin started to recreate itself into an impenetrable material, my bones were embedded with Tech that was more advanced than Stark Institutes.

I detached myself from the Mutant community. Not just physically but mentally. I learned to block out Jean and Professor X. Seeing as Tech embedded itself into my body I could manipulate it to to protect my body as I saw fitting. I would spend nights in my room learning how to fight, reviewing my teams weaknesses so I could come in and strengthen it.

My team consisted of Allison Blaire (Dazzler), Megan Gwynn (Pixie), Kenji Uedo (Zero), and Angel Jones (Firestar). We were a smaller X-Men group. Just the five of us. Scott Summers and Beast would train us when it was needed but most of the times we were so far advanced that we were helping our mentors. Zero was my best friend. But after his fifteenth birthday he lost control of powers when they were evolving. He ended up killing himself in a fantasy that he created. Six months later Oya and Transonic joined our group as a replacement. They were great additions to the team but they had a lot of baggage on them. Both had tried to kill themselves Iand Oya seemed to sulk a lot.

I was 14 when I was sent away to college. My Technopath abilities had turned me into the perfect superhuman. After my powers evolved I started seeing things. I saw measurements and facts. As if I were looking through a computer all the time. I saw answers and possibilities. As my abilities grew I became more antisocial.

"It doesn't have to be this way," A light hair burnett sat down next to me. He set a Starbucks cup down next to me and leaned back into the chair. He smiled at me before he tipped the cups to his lips. "I am Mike. Mike Ryan. I'm a Freshman at MIT"

"Carly Grieff, Sophomore at MIT"

"Oh, so you're an older woman. You look very young though."

"I'm sixteen."

"Okay so you're smarter than me." I laughed at him and decided to set my book and exchanged it for my coffee gift."So what doesn't have to be what way?"

"Hmm?" He looked at me for a second, "Oh, you don't have to be an outcast. You know if you reach out and talk to people i'm pretty sure you'd make friends."

"I'm kind of a freak."

"You're at MIT. Everyone is. Okay how about this, My friend is hosting a party tomorrow night and you're coming. No ifs, ands, or buts, about it." I hesitated but agreed.

We were dating a month later. He was two years older than me and actually had a past with relationship. When I was eighteen he proposed and I said yes. That was a year ago.


End file.
